Manuel Pita
@sejkko.bsky.social
Assistant Professor of Informatics 🇵🇹
Computational social science, networks, online communities, AI and education
Rock climber 🧗🏽
Art Photographer 🎞
@sejkko on instagram
Computational social science, networks, online communities, AI and education
Rock climber 🧗🏽
Art Photographer 🎞
@sejkko on instagram
Reposted by Manuel Pita
Our data shows a ten-year trend towards disengagement from online news, with interest in news falling and news avoidance rising
Our researcher Craig T. Robertson examines why this may be happening and what news organisations can do about it
reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/news/people-...
Our researcher Craig T. Robertson examines why this may be happening and what news organisations can do about it
reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/news/people-...
People are turning away from the news. Here’s why it may be happening
Our data shows a ten-year trend towards disengagement from online news, with interest in news falling and news avoidance rising.
reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk
February 25, 2025 at 9:39 AM
Our data shows a ten-year trend towards disengagement from online news, with interest in news falling and news avoidance rising
Our researcher Craig T. Robertson examines why this may be happening and what news organisations can do about it
reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/news/people-...
Our researcher Craig T. Robertson examines why this may be happening and what news organisations can do about it
reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/news/people-...
Are we measuring the patterns of digital media consumption incorrectly? This question is relevant to several phenomena such as news avoidance and spreading false information.
I explore this in my latest #substack post
substack.com/home/post/p-...
I explore this in my latest #substack post
substack.com/home/post/p-...
The challenges of quantifying and understanding people's online media consumption.
Why is our data lacking?
substack.com
March 12, 2025 at 9:42 AM
Are we measuring the patterns of digital media consumption incorrectly? This question is relevant to several phenomena such as news avoidance and spreading false information.
I explore this in my latest #substack post
substack.com/home/post/p-...
I explore this in my latest #substack post
substack.com/home/post/p-...
Reposted by Manuel Pita
🚨BREAKING. From a program officer at the National Science Foundation, a list of keywords that can cause a grant to be pulled. I will be sharing screenshots of these keywords along with a decision tree. Please share widely. This is a crisis for academic freedom & science.
February 4, 2025 at 1:26 AM
🚨BREAKING. From a program officer at the National Science Foundation, a list of keywords that can cause a grant to be pulled. I will be sharing screenshots of these keywords along with a decision tree. Please share widely. This is a crisis for academic freedom & science.
Analysing data on Portuguese teenagers speaking about falling in love. It seems love has been outbid—one-night stands are practical, money is king, and romance is a relic.
I watch as sentiment is buried, its epitaph written in bank statements.
#conversation
I watch as sentiment is buried, its epitaph written in bank statements.
#conversation
February 3, 2025 at 9:50 AM
Analysing data on Portuguese teenagers speaking about falling in love. It seems love has been outbid—one-night stands are practical, money is king, and romance is a relic.
I watch as sentiment is buried, its epitaph written in bank statements.
#conversation
I watch as sentiment is buried, its epitaph written in bank statements.
#conversation
Reposted by Manuel Pita
Misinformation isn't random - it's strategic. 🧵
In the first cross-national comparative study, we examine 32M tweets from politicians.
We find that misinformation is not a general condition: it is driven by populist radical right parties.
with @julianachueri.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1177/1940...
In the first cross-national comparative study, we examine 32M tweets from politicians.
We find that misinformation is not a general condition: it is driven by populist radical right parties.
with @julianachueri.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1177/1940...
January 14, 2025 at 1:24 PM
Misinformation isn't random - it's strategic. 🧵
In the first cross-national comparative study, we examine 32M tweets from politicians.
We find that misinformation is not a general condition: it is driven by populist radical right parties.
with @julianachueri.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1177/1940...
In the first cross-national comparative study, we examine 32M tweets from politicians.
We find that misinformation is not a general condition: it is driven by populist radical right parties.
with @julianachueri.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1177/1940...
Reposted by Manuel Pita
Meta confirmed that the company will allow AI-generated users on its Facebook and Instagram platforms
The AI-generated users will be labelled as AI and look and act like any other users. www.ft.com/content/9118...
The AI-generated users will be labelled as AI and look and act like any other users. www.ft.com/content/9118...
Meta envisages social media filled with AI-generated users
US tech group is rolling out a range of artificial intelligence tools to drive engagement
www.ft.com
December 30, 2024 at 9:09 AM
Meta confirmed that the company will allow AI-generated users on its Facebook and Instagram platforms
The AI-generated users will be labelled as AI and look and act like any other users. www.ft.com/content/9118...
The AI-generated users will be labelled as AI and look and act like any other users. www.ft.com/content/9118...
Reposted by Manuel Pita
If you're following the OpenAI o3 announcements and are curious about the "ARC-AGI" benchmark and why I think solving these tasks by brute-force compute defeats the original purpose, here are some past posts about this from my Substack: (1/3)
December 20, 2024 at 6:29 PM
If you're following the OpenAI o3 announcements and are curious about the "ARC-AGI" benchmark and why I think solving these tasks by brute-force compute defeats the original purpose, here are some past posts about this from my Substack: (1/3)
Reposted by Manuel Pita
🚨New WP🚨
We examine news sharing on 7 platforms:
1)Right-leaning platforms=lower quality news
2)Echo-platforms: Right-leaning news gets more engagement on right-leaning platforms, vice-versa for left-leaning
3)But low-quality news gets more engagement EVERYWHERE, even BlueSky!
osf.io/preprints/ps...
We examine news sharing on 7 platforms:
1)Right-leaning platforms=lower quality news
2)Echo-platforms: Right-leaning news gets more engagement on right-leaning platforms, vice-versa for left-leaning
3)But low-quality news gets more engagement EVERYWHERE, even BlueSky!
osf.io/preprints/ps...
December 9, 2024 at 7:48 PM
🚨New WP🚨
We examine news sharing on 7 platforms:
1)Right-leaning platforms=lower quality news
2)Echo-platforms: Right-leaning news gets more engagement on right-leaning platforms, vice-versa for left-leaning
3)But low-quality news gets more engagement EVERYWHERE, even BlueSky!
osf.io/preprints/ps...
We examine news sharing on 7 platforms:
1)Right-leaning platforms=lower quality news
2)Echo-platforms: Right-leaning news gets more engagement on right-leaning platforms, vice-versa for left-leaning
3)But low-quality news gets more engagement EVERYWHERE, even BlueSky!
osf.io/preprints/ps...
Reposted by Manuel Pita
In this article we identify six potential pitfalls for federated social media like #Mastodon & #Bluesky
1. Distributed governance
2. Commercial capture
3. Inclusive access
4. Moderation at scale
5. Reputational anti-halo
6. Technoromanticism
ijoc.org/index.php/ij... #commsky #openaccess
1. Distributed governance
2. Commercial capture
3. Inclusive access
4. Moderation at scale
5. Reputational anti-halo
6. Technoromanticism
ijoc.org/index.php/ij... #commsky #openaccess
Can This Platform Survive? Governance Challenges for the Fediverse | Struett | International Journal of Communication
Can This Platform Survive? Governance Challenges for the Fediverse
ijoc.org
November 30, 2024 at 1:19 PM
In this article we identify six potential pitfalls for federated social media like #Mastodon & #Bluesky
1. Distributed governance
2. Commercial capture
3. Inclusive access
4. Moderation at scale
5. Reputational anti-halo
6. Technoromanticism
ijoc.org/index.php/ij... #commsky #openaccess
1. Distributed governance
2. Commercial capture
3. Inclusive access
4. Moderation at scale
5. Reputational anti-halo
6. Technoromanticism
ijoc.org/index.php/ij... #commsky #openaccess
Happy birthday dear Margaret (Maggie) Boden 💕
November 27, 2024 at 2:36 PM
Happy birthday dear Margaret (Maggie) Boden 💕
Logged in here after five months and things look very different. So many people from complex systems and network science are now here ✨💕✨
November 20, 2024 at 8:13 PM
Logged in here after five months and things look very different. So many people from complex systems and network science are now here ✨💕✨
One of my #sejkko_lonelyhouses — but AI generated. Feels kind of weird.
May 26, 2024 at 4:38 PM
One of my #sejkko_lonelyhouses — but AI generated. Feels kind of weird.
I wonder whether the extreme right politicians in Portugal feel in any way responsible for how their hate has percolated even to our children. Some say they condemn what just happened to a child in Lisbon, condemn... it can be such a cold word. I am heartbroken 💔
May 15, 2024 at 1:38 PM
I wonder whether the extreme right politicians in Portugal feel in any way responsible for how their hate has percolated even to our children. Some say they condemn what just happened to a child in Lisbon, condemn... it can be such a cold word. I am heartbroken 💔
I'm closely observing how influential figures like J.K. Rowling, R. Dawkins, and J. Peterson leverage their impact. I'm also reflecting on my own preconceptions, considering the importance of embracing complexity in thought rather than falling back on Cartesian simplicity.
May 11, 2024 at 11:11 AM
I'm closely observing how influential figures like J.K. Rowling, R. Dawkins, and J. Peterson leverage their impact. I'm also reflecting on my own preconceptions, considering the importance of embracing complexity in thought rather than falling back on Cartesian simplicity.
May 3, 2024 at 10:50 PM
Today I learnt that the first recorded use of the word identity—as “identitie”—took place around 1570. From the Latin identitas (sameness), it now encompasses our so many notions around self and social dimensions. What will this word mean in 100 years?
May 2, 2024 at 1:32 PM
Today I learnt that the first recorded use of the word identity—as “identitie”—took place around 1570. From the Latin identitas (sameness), it now encompasses our so many notions around self and social dimensions. What will this word mean in 100 years?
Our lab will be at the #complexnetworks conference next week to present preliminary findings on the use of explicit replies by secondary school students in online group debates.
Do they use replies for deepening the conversation?
For something else?
Does it matter?
Do they use replies for deepening the conversation?
For something else?
Does it matter?
November 25, 2023 at 9:04 AM
Our lab will be at the #complexnetworks conference next week to present preliminary findings on the use of explicit replies by secondary school students in online group debates.
Do they use replies for deepening the conversation?
For something else?
Does it matter?
Do they use replies for deepening the conversation?
For something else?
Does it matter?
Reposted by Manuel Pita
New checklist by the Research Quality Committee at NeuRA stresses preregistration, open data and code, solid sample size justification, reporting exact p-values and no claims based on non-significant results. neura.edu.au/resources-to... All sensible recommendations.
neura.edu.au/resources/co...
neura.edu.au/resources/co...
November 20, 2023 at 8:32 AM
New checklist by the Research Quality Committee at NeuRA stresses preregistration, open data and code, solid sample size justification, reporting exact p-values and no claims based on non-significant results. neura.edu.au/resources-to... All sensible recommendations.
neura.edu.au/resources/co...
neura.edu.au/resources/co...
Reposted by Manuel Pita
Analyzing Modularity Maximization in Approximation, Heuristic, and Graph Neural Network Algorithms for Community Detection.
http://arxiv.org/abs/2310.10898
http://arxiv.org/abs/2310.10898
October 18, 2023 at 3:34 AM
Analyzing Modularity Maximization in Approximation, Heuristic, and Graph Neural Network Algorithms for Community Detection.
http://arxiv.org/abs/2310.10898
http://arxiv.org/abs/2310.10898
Reposted by Manuel Pita
Paul Feyerabend, not a fan of conferences. From a 1974 letter written to Imre Lakatos (in "For and Against Method") 🧪
October 6, 2023 at 10:27 AM
Paul Feyerabend, not a fan of conferences. From a 1974 letter written to Imre Lakatos (in "For and Against Method") 🧪
Reposted by Manuel Pita
Big fan of listening to AI tech consultants talking about the effect of AI on news, audience trust, and the public sphere without a single shred of evidence.
October 10, 2023 at 9:34 AM
Big fan of listening to AI tech consultants talking about the effect of AI on news, audience trust, and the public sphere without a single shred of evidence.
Reposted by Manuel Pita
This, in October, is insane.
October 9, 2023 at 9:17 AM
This, in October, is insane.
Reposted by Manuel Pita
🔔 Job alert - There's a fully funded PhD Scholarship in Network Science to work with me and join the Network Science Institute at Northeastern University London. Great opportunity to join the new NetSI London hub!
Application deadline: 31st Oct 2023
Feel free to reach out for more info/details etc.
Application deadline: 31st Oct 2023
Feel free to reach out for more info/details etc.
PhD Scholarship (Fully Funded) - Group Dynamics, Coordination, and Performance in Human and Non-Huma...
Start your UK & international job search for academic jobs, research jobs, science jobs and managerial jobs in leading universities and top...
www.jobs.ac.uk
October 9, 2023 at 9:54 AM
🔔 Job alert - There's a fully funded PhD Scholarship in Network Science to work with me and join the Network Science Institute at Northeastern University London. Great opportunity to join the new NetSI London hub!
Application deadline: 31st Oct 2023
Feel free to reach out for more info/details etc.
Application deadline: 31st Oct 2023
Feel free to reach out for more info/details etc.
Many reviewers of extended abstracts seem to expect that, when looking at the document, they become one with Shiva (or some other deity) and get access to the paper that will be, and even beyond.
Seriously. Scope, please. Thank you 🤟🏾
Seriously. Scope, please. Thank you 🤟🏾
October 5, 2023 at 9:22 AM
Many reviewers of extended abstracts seem to expect that, when looking at the document, they become one with Shiva (or some other deity) and get access to the paper that will be, and even beyond.
Seriously. Scope, please. Thank you 🤟🏾
Seriously. Scope, please. Thank you 🤟🏾